Hilton Head Island!

So the last week of September/first week of October I had the amazing opportunity to spend a few days on Hilton Head Island with my parents. They were so gracious to invite me along for their only vacation they take each year.

I arrived early Monday evening, and of course the first thing that happened was I said hello to the ocean. We were staying in a condo which was part of an oceanfront complex so the beach was only a few steps away.

Our condo was part of this complex

After our hello to the beach we went in search of dinner. Luckily we didn't have to search long or hard since there are more restaurants on the Island than one could imagine. After dinner we wandered around a bit where my Dad managed to make a new friend....

The next day started off with a Mother/Daughter bike ride. Of course nothing can go exactly as planned.....When we took off we decided to follow one of the many bike paths which was on a street running parallel to the ocean. Our goal was at some point to find a beach access road and then we could bike back to our complex on the beach. While this was a wonderful thought in theory we learned how few public beach access roads there are from where we were biking. Eventually we found a key card access gate that was conveniently unlocked which just happened to provide us with beach access ;) Although we rode longer and sweated more than originally planned it was a fun adventure.

After our adventure we spent some well deserved time relaxing on the beach. That night we went to the other side of the Island and had dinner at Skullcreek Boathouse. Luckily the weather was beautiful so we were able to sit on their outdoor patio. We had a good dinner with some fabulous hushpuppies. Since they were on the water we managed to get some great photos before it became too dark.

Day 3 began with a little less activity than day 2. We started off the morning in search of an advertised local farmer's market. Sadly we were never able to locate the market, but we did make a few other stops along the way.

It's a bike rack shaped to be an alligator

My Dad doing his "Walter" impression (from the Jeff Dunham Character)

Once we returned to the condo it was time to head off to the Beach. After spending most of the day on the beach we took a family bike ride along the ocean. During the ride we got to see multiple dolphins playing in the water, some of whom were very close to shore.

See the Dolphin fin???? 

Once the bike ride was over we weren't ready to leave the beach so we decided to have a picnic on the beach for dinner. We set up a collapsable table and ordered pizza! We received a lot of jealous looks from passerbys. It was one of our most favorite family meals ever (which is saying something!). Afterwards we were also able to get some wonderful sunset pictures.

Our fourth day started off with another vacation tradition - tennis. Mom and I managed to find some public courts and the competition was fierce. In the end, for the second time in my life, I defeated her 6-4! It was a great start to the day. Once we returned it was time to head to the beach. The waves were super intense when we first got out there so I took the opportunity to refresh my boogie boarding skills.

Daddy watching on - and yes he reminded me for the 100th time what to do if I got caught in a riptide. Some things never change. 

Today wasn't quite as sunny as some of the other days so we moved inside during the afternoon and had a wine/reading break. My Dad found these shockingly cute wine glasses at the dollar store.

And finally it was time to get ready for dinner, which conveniently was going to be at a Steelers Bar, as the Steelers were playing Thursday Night Football. There wasn't a bad crowd at the bar and we definitely had some group cheers. Sadly the steelers lost (*grumble* Scobee *grumble* when you need a yard put it in the hands of your best player *grumble*) but it was still a fun night out!

My final day on the Island started off with another bike ride. We did plan a little better this time and found some spots to take some great pictures. The one surprise we had was to bike back we knew we had to cross a bridge. We didn't realize it was the same bridge that the cars use which had a pretty steep hill. So biking up the side, with cars whizzing by immediately to your left was a little more intense than we had anticipated. Other than that it was a great last bike ride on a beautiful island!

Photo Credit goes to my Mom on this one

Unfortunately then it was time to pack up and head to the beach for some goodbye time. There was a storm moving in (okay Hurricane Joaquin), which was causing some great waves, probably some of the biggest I've seen in person.

It was an amazing week and I was so grateful for the chance to have a beach vacation!!!

2015 Update/Restart :)

Whew! The last year has been non-stop and it's about time that we re-start our blog (again....). As a quick catch up in the Fall of 2014 both Kris and I achieved candidacy in our DMA program at WVU. Since then we have been working on our final research document and preparing for recitals. Also since our assistantships ended in Spring of 2015 we were also job hunting. We are very proud to announce that in July Kris was hired to be the Assistant Band Director/Director of Percussion Studies at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, MS. Since he was hired fairly late in the summer we needed to move quickly. Luckily one of Kris's colleagues was also moving and agreed to let us rent their house for a few months while we figure things out. Currently we are living in Starkville, MS, although we are very excited to announce that on Friday (September 25th) we went under contract on our first home in Meridian, MS. Currently closing is set for October 30th so keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly in the next month and we can move in on Halloween Weekend!!!!

While my primary goal is to chronicle everything going forward, I will try to do a bunch of "Throwback" blog posts to pick up things that have been left out the last few years. That includes some exciting trips (hint: we got to give Mickey Mouse hugs!!!).

Yesterday we attended EMCC's homecoming game. EMCC has an amazing football program and they did not disappoint. The music department also has a new hall which went through building dedication complete with a fun cookout. This was the second time I was able to hang out with the EMCC kids and it was a blast.

The day started with a fun event for all parents/friends of the band kids. The band used the old football stadium to march through the first tune of their usual halftime show. After one run through family and friends were invited to shadow a band member/dancer/color guard, etc... In the background you can see the new music building.

Then we moved inside for the actual dedication....

After the cookout it was time to warm up for the game and head into the Stadium....

Once the game started we wasted no time in reminding everyone why EMCC's team is the defending National Champs... first touchdown came :57 in the first quarter!

During the game the band and crowd enjoyed cheering on the Lions to a 48-24 victory. 

It was a great first homecoming for us at EMCC and we are looking forward to many more!

Puzzles

In addition to our lego building we've also recently started working on some puzzles together. This actually goes back to years ago for Christmas one year I got Kris a 1500 piece Star Wars puzzle with the intention that we could build it together. At the time I think we made it through the border before abandoning the project. In March we decided to bring it out again and we finally finished it the other night.

Our next puzzle is a "mystery puzzle" that Steph has kindly loaned us. If you haven't heard of these before you read a story, then build the puzzle. Contained within the puzzle are clues that will help you solve the mystery. The other catch is that you don't know what the puzzle is supposed to look like! We made a good dent in it last night and will post pictures whenever we finish :)

Legos!

It is no secret in our house that Kris loves Star Wars and especially Star Wars Legos. We have boxes in the attic full of lego sets waiting an appropriate display area.

It is also no secret that lego sets are expensive and as Kris is quite talented at building them. Even a very large set only keeps him busy for half a day at the most.

By sheer luck I stumbled upon a company that falls into the "now why didn't I think of that?!" category. The company is called "pleygo" and the description is that it's like netflix for legos. You pay a monthly subscription fee and they mail you lego sets. You build/play with each set as long as you like then return it, at which point they mail out your next set. Genius!

For an early anniversary present I bought Kris a subscription, so needless to say I think this summer will be the summer of much lego building! To that end here are the pictures of our first completed project. Each set is built twice, once by Kris and once by me. For those who can't recognize it, this is Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle from Episode III. This is the shuttle used to save Anakin and is also the shuttle on which he is transformed into Darth Vader. Enjoy the pictures, we are excited to see what set we end up with next!!

Paddleboards!!!

Here we go again to try and keep this blog up to date (HA!). As a quick recap Kris and I have now finished all our classwork for our DMA's. We will be taking the written portion of our comprehensive exams this summer in August (eek!). Which answers the question of what we will be doing all summer...Studying!!!!

In the meantime we will try to find ways to relax a bit, and those will hopefully be what mostly fills this blog this summer.

This first post actually goes back to last summer. Last July we took a mini vacation to Deep Creek Lake. We stayed a few days at the WISP resort and enjoyed some of the summer activities in the area. One of the activities we tried Stand-Up Paddleboarding. Kris had been wanting to try this for a long time and luckily Deep Creek offered guided tours of the lake on paddleboards. After about the first 30 min we were both hooked. It is a relatively easy activity (as long as you can balance standing up on the board) but is a great full body workout. In addition, this is one of the few sports where we are mostly equally matched. Part of the appeal of SUP's (the abbreviation) is that they can be manuvered into tight spots which makes them perfect for wildlife watching and just general exploring. It also means speed is not really a concern. After returning we bit the bullet and got our own inflatable SUP's from a company called "Tower Paddleboards".

We immediately put them to good use on our trip last year to Michigan and througout August/September in WV. We explored a few local lakes and luckily we live only 1 mile from Cheat Lake making it a very convenient entry point.

This past week was the first time we got the paddleboards out for this summer! As Cheat Lake is normally busy with boats we tend to frequent the end of the lake away from the main docks. However, as it is still early in the season, not a lot of boats are out so we've been taking the time to explore the other end of the lake. On our first outing we got caught in a thunderstorm (opps!) and didn't make it very far. The next day, however, was amazing. We got to paddle down the Cheat River and explore a beautiful little waterfall. See pictures below....

Courtney relaxing on the paddleboard

In addition we also got to see 2 beavers paddling around. Kris startled one of them and we even got the tail slap on the water to warn us away! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them.

Here's to the start of summer and hopefully many more adventures on our paddleboards!

Halloween 2013

No time like the present to try and start updating the blog again! Sorry to all who have checked it over the last year to no avail. Grad school has been keeping us busy. We did however find sometime to celebrate Halloween. Last Sunday we went to Rich's Fright Farm up in PA. They have a haunted hayride, house and maze. The decorations were great and I even jumped a few times!

Last night we carved pumpkins. Normally Kris is the uncontested winner of our pumpkin carving contest but I think I made a pretty good showing myself this year:

Kris's Pumpkin:

My Pumpkin (on the left):

My parents also found the most perfect Halloween Card for us this year:

I was seriously crying when I read this card from laughing so hard!




Our semester is already past the halfway point. Once we finish up this semester we will officially be halfway done with our degrees. Next semester is our last semester of "classes". We will take our comprehensive exams over the summer and then next year will be spend working on our research project and preparing for our final recital. Phew it's all flying by :)




Hopefully this will be the first of some more regular updates.

Happy Halloween from the Grant Family!